Actor Beatty considers presidency

Posted: Wednesday, September 29, 1999

The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES - More than seven weeks after he hinted at a White House run, Warren Beatty still teases the political and entertainment worlds about his intentions. That is unlikely to change with his highly anticipated speech today, friends and associates said.

Beatty is to be honored in Beverly Hills by a group that shares his liberal philosophy, the Southern California Americans for Democratic Action.

"I've just heard he wants to lay out a specific set of policies and issues and does not plan to lay out his intentions of whether he plans to seek the Democratic nomination or any nomination for president," said Art Torres, chairman of the state Democratic Party and an open supporter of Beatty's potential primary rival, Vice President Al Gore.

Several with close ties to Beatty said the actor-director is unlikely to tip his hand at the Beverly Hills gathering.

Whatever he does, Beatty will do it under a news media microscope. Reporters from around the nation and world are thronging to the speech.

, even though it holds little promise of a bombshell announcement.

C-SPAN, the government affairs cable network, plans to record the speech and air it nationally Sunday.

So Beatty is certain to accomplish his stated objective, regardless of whether he discloses his plans. He will train a spotlight on issues he believes are being neglected by the two Democrats running for president, Gore and former Sen. Bill Bradley.

"I think he is trying to impact the debate," said Bill Carrick, a Democratic political adviser who is not on the payroll of any presidential candidate.

"He's worried the Democratic Party is not discussing some of the issues he considers important and are part of the history and tradition of the party," Carrick said. "Namely that people have been left out of the prosperity - low-income, poor people have been left out, and that's not been adequately addressed from his point of view in the debate."

Tony Wyche, a spokesman for Bradley, said the former New Jersey senator stressed "pulling children out of poverty" from the start of his presidential campaign and pointed out that Bradley called for a ban on the unlimited "soft money" donations to political parties.

Wyche said he had no intention of monitoring Beatty's speech.

Gore spokeswoman Kiki Moore said Gore is committed to "leading the fight for change that works on critical issues like making sure our kids have health care, making sure economic prosperity reaches every corner of the country, making sure children have a future full of opportunities because they have the education they need."

During the Clinton administration, the child poverty rate underwent its longest sustained drop since the early 1960s, Gore spokesman Roger Salazar said.

Asked whether she'd be paying attention to Beatty's address, Moore said: "We try to pay attention to all kinds of public dialogues that are going on out there."